Bynum can only bide time

The video apparently dropped in everybody's inbox last summer except Andrew Bynum's.

But by the time he heard about it, Bynum couldn't be that mad.

Some sketchy footage was spread around the Web of Kobe Bryant in a parking lot telling a few friends what he really thinks. Rumor was that a pretty nice deal was on the table for the Lakers, and feeling the burden from being the team's solo act since the divorce with Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant made his take pretty clear.

Jason Kidd was a future Hall of Famer, he said, Bynum was a 7-foot, 285-pound Hefty bag.

If all the Lakers had to do to get a Hall of Famer was take out the garbage, Bryant was all in.

"Ship him out of here," he said.

It was icily honest, but no more honest than Bynum had been with himself.

The Lakers were a .500 team at best, and for the second straight year, they had been bounced in the first round by Phoenix. Bynum had played all 82 games in 2006-07, but his 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per night didn't exactly scream "stud center."

Smush Parker was the Lakers' point guard at the time, so getting Kidd was like getting a Benz. A 1995 Benz, but still a Benz.

"I see what he was saying," Bynum said, looking back on it. "We were losing and we had an opportunity to get a Hall of Fame point guard."

But that wasn't the spark.

What bothered him was that in 2005, the last year high schoolers were allowed in the NBA draft, the Lakers gambled on Bynum, because in his time at three high schools he looked like a natural inside scorer, a rebounder, and genuine shot swatter - but in two seasons with the Lakers, it was as if he forgot how to be any of that.

"What motivated me," he said, "was coming in being the No. 10 pick and having people rely on me and me not being ready."

So when the video leaked, it took a while to reach Bynum, because he was concentrating on getting ready for this season.

He was already working with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. They were correcting Bynum's footwork and rediscovering his shot-blocking.

"His idea of playing defense was to get in a certain position and then stand with his arms in the air," Abdul-Jabbar said. "That just made him a target."

Abdul-Jabbar told him to move his feet and not let players just dive into him, chuck the ball in the air, and get to the free throw line.

"In 10 days, his blocked shots were way up, and his fouls were down," Abdul-Jabbar said. "He was very difficult for everybody to deal with. He's got the skills and he understands how to use them."

The Lakers had already thrown good money after bad, bringing in Kwame Brown, who was damaged goods after tough years with Michael Jordan's Wizards.

Bynum could have turned out the same way, but his makeup was different. Abdul-Jabbar could tell in how responsive he was to the training.

"I feel a lot of times more like I'm his uncle and not his coach," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Andrew had a great attitude. I had other experiences where it was even hostility because the guy didn't want to work. But Andrew put the work in and it was obvious that he was up another level and he could handle it."

In his first 35 games this season, Bynum averaged 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks, easily the best numbers of his career. The Lakers were at the top of the Western Conference, Bryant was more than happy, and there were tongue-in-cheek suggestions that Bynum was more of an MVP candidate than Bryant.

Then, Bynum landed on Lamar Odom's foot.

Happens all the time. Happened to Paul Pierce in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Bynum went down the same way, grabbed his left knee the same way, and was carried off the court the same way.

Even his thoughts were the same.

"Just hope it's not as bad as you think," he said.

As it turned out, he had a partially dislocated kneecap. The doctors kept telling him the same thing: It might get better.

But you can only hear that so many times over the course of three months before you start to think they're lying to you. Plus, somewhere during rehab, he tweaked the knee again. By March he had shut it down for 2008.

In the meantime, the Lakers had plugged the hole, dealing for Pau Gasol to firm up their frontcourt. They never missed a beat.

"We were No. 1 when I got hurt," Bynum said. "And we finished No. 1."

Still, it can be hard for him to watch. Especially these Finals.

"It's super tough for me not to be able to go out there and play and help my teammates out," said Bynum. "Especially when you lose by a little bit and you lose by rebounds and blocked shots, people walking down getting layups. That's part of my job as a center, so it definitely hurts."

He can't help seeing Gasol and Odom out there and daydreaming about how good life would be with all three of them on the court.

"We could all play catch right around the rim," he said.

His rookie deal ends this summer. Kidd is with the Mavericks. And Los Angeles is having the same dreams as Bynum.

"Everybody in Los Angeles is eagerly waiting to see how it's going to play out with him and Pau on the court." Abdul-Jabbar said. "He wants to be a part of this."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.